Middletown school enrollment swells

MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown School District has hired dozens of new teachers to handle an unexpected flood of more than 400 new students.

Pauline Liu

MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown School District has hired dozens of new teachers to handle an unexpected flood of more than 400 new students.

School districts across the state are counting students for the critical official enrollment.

Districts have to file those numbers with the state by the end of the month. State aid per student, among other things, is based on the enrollment figures.

What Middletown found is 441 new students, far more than expected or anticipated. The influx boosts the enrollment to more than 7,640. Last year, the tally stood at about 7,200. That's an increase of about 6 percent.

The rush is not over, Superintendent Ken Eastwood said. New students continue to register with the district.

The question is why?

"We know that part of the reason for the explosion is that parents — in a positive way — are trying to take advantage of the new programs," said Dominick Radogna, principal of the district's Maple Hill Elementary School.

Middletown mom Lucy Delacruz enrolled her 5-year-old twins, Anna and Bella, in the popular dual language kindergarten program at Maple Hill because she wants them to learn Spanish.

"It's great because one day they speak Spanish all day in class, then the next day they alternate and speak English," said Delacruz, who moved from New York City six years ago for the better quality of life.

Other popular programs include the tuition-free college courses to eligible high school students, which are paid for by a federal Race-to-the-Top grant.

In order to accommodate the boom, the district has hired about 60 new teachers, including replacements for 11 teachers who recently retired, said Sheila Esposito, Middletown Teachers Association president.

"It's been years since we're seen a bumper crop of new teachers like this," said Esposito, who's been teaching for 28 years.

But Middletown isn't the only mid-Hudson district enjoying increased enrollment. The Goshen School District, which had an enrollment of about 2,900 students, now has 62 additional students, said Superintendent Daniel Connor.

According to experts, good programs can make districts attractive, but job opportunities and the number of young families moving into the region are what really impact enrollment.

"Fortunately for parts of the Hudson Valley, some combination of these changes are taking place," said John Sipple, director of the New York State Center for Rural Schools, located at Cornell University. The state-sponsored center is dedicated to solving problems and creating opportunities in New York's 356 rural school districts. "Much of the rest of upstate New York cannot say the same and population loss is steady and troubling," Sipple said.